Caffeine Extraction Comparison

Caffeine Extraction from Various Caffeinated Beverages. Bobby Whitaker. Tyler Neavin. In this lab chloroform (ChCl3) was used to extract caffeine from coffee and tea. Chloroform was used due to its unique features. These features include a high molar mass and a high affinity for caffeine. Chloroform was poured through the beverages, allowed to sit, and then siphoned off and repeated three times. Then the chloroform was allowed to evaporate overnight, leaving behind a pure caffeine residue. In our coffee test, 110 mg of caffeine were recorded for every 355 ml (12 oz) of coffee. In our tea test, 40 mg of caffeine were recorded for every 355 ml (12 oz) of tea. Each finding was on the low end of the predicted caffeine spectrum, but still within the acceptable limits. For further research students should consider testing the caffeine content of sodas and energy drinks.
Keywords: Molar mass, chloroform, evaporation.

Beverage:	Caribou Coffee	Earl Grey tea	Red Bull
Presented amount of caffeine	60 – 120 mg	45 mg	80 mg (8.2 oz)
Actual amount of caffeine	110 mg	40 mg	Unknown
% Accuracy	18.2% more than 90 mg	12.5% less than 45 mg	Unknown

Citations:

Bower R.S., Anderson A.D., Titus R.W. 1950 Aug. Determination of Caffeine. Analytical Chemistry. 22(8): 1056-1058.

Victor G Aeby, Tracy Carpenter-Aeby, Kimberly Barber-Heidal, Brenda M Malinauskas, and Reginald F Overton. 11 Mar 2010. A Survey of Energy Drinks Consumption Patterns Among College Students.